I have spent the last two years focused deeply on my classroom -- on making things better, finding inspiration (looking at you, Terri Eicholz!), and creating a learning space that I would be excited and proud to share. This year, I've dipped my toe into the next level as a teacher, (how's that for mixing metaphors?), providing professional development to other teachers. It's been terrifying. And thrilling. Today, I spent the morning with a dear friend creating a pitch to present at next year's SXSW EDU. We want to take what we've learned from Making in our classrooms and translate it into something teachers can use in ALL classrooms. To find out more, check out our video.
And stay tuned -- Ed Remix has lots of ideas, just waiting to be shared.
"I wrote a chapter book!" This pronouncement, unexpected from the lips of a first-grader, made me smile. She had taken to our latest project with gusto, and had been writing on Storybird for hours. This fantastic website was shared by a friend last year, but has really taken off with my storytelling group this semester. (For more great tech ideas, check out Cristina Popescu's blog "Think Appy Thoughts!")
Basically, the website provides the artwork, and your students pick the picture that inspires them. They can write poems, chapter books or picture books, and can even "publish" their stories to share. The basic level of the website is free, and teachers can sign up 30 students (after that they have to pay for subscriptions). It's also safe: Teachers can moderate all stories and comments that their students make, and any stories published in the public realm are moderated by the website's team for family-friendliness. I shared Storybird with the teachers on our campus, and the first grade teachers decided to sign their classes up. One of their students enjoyed writing so much, she authored the picture book "How to Write a Book on Storybird."
Although I'm using it in class with younger elementary students, I can see this working with kids through high school -- or even adults. I'm personally working on a children's chapter book right now -- it's pretty rough, but I promised my students that if they're writing, then I would, too. They love being able to see my writing take shape, and giving me suggestions on it. Enjoy!
You know you've done something right as a teacher when seven 8-year-old boys come into your room right after recess, see a stack of books and say "ooooh, research!" My second graders have officially begun work on theirLEGO robot dinosaur project. I introduced them to robotics using LEGO's WeDo robots. They took to it like little ducks to water -- or rather, like little pterosaurs to the sky.
To help the project along, I asked our librarian for any books she had on the subject. This being an elementary school, she provided us with a pile of dinosaur books. I spread them out on the table, and had planned to have the kids look at the pictures, pick out the dinosaur they wanted to build, and move on from there. Here's where the magic happened. First, they each grabbed a book or two, and curled up somewhere quiet. (A bookworm myself, I have lots of reading nooks around my room in the form of carpets, floor pillows and a big comfy papasan chair.) Then one of them says, "Mrs. Z, can I get some Post-its to take notes on what I'm reading?" Well, if you must. He passed sticky notes out to all the rest, and I set the timer for 15 minutes, figuring they'd be ready to move on after that.
The timer went off, and a collective groan went around the room. "We need more time! Please!" Well, ok then. They started to get excited about what they were reading, and began pointing it out to the other boys. "Did you know dinosaurs are still alive today? Birds are living dinosaurs!" Then my chattiest one piped up -- "Guys! Guys! We need to be quiet, and take our notes so we can read as much as possible, and we'll share it after!" "Oh, yeah yeah yeah." And they settled down. Well, alrighty then. Seven boys. After recess. My squirlliest group every week. Silent. Reading. Taking notes. Because they got to choose. They own this project in a way that makes them intrinsically motivated to do their very best on it. Sometimes, as a teacher, your job is to teach. But sometimes, you get to learn. And today, I learned a very big lesson in facilitation. Over the last few years, I had given my boys the tools -- they knew how to take notes, and group them afterwards into categories. And they had the confidence to look at a pile of books and decide what they wanted to do with it. They didn't need me to be the boss today. So I stepped back, mentally chucked my lesson plans out the window, and curled up with a dinosaur book myself. "Did you know....?"
A few months ago, I was having lunch with my second graders (I do this with every GT group, every other week). And I asked them, "What ideas do you have for our next project?" "Oooh! We should do dinosaurs!" "Robots!" "Learn to blow stuff up!" "Basketball -- we should learn about basketball!" "LEGOs! I love to make stuff with LEGOs!" I took a deep breath, preparing to settle them down a bit, when one of the boys (it's an all-boys group), piped up. "Guys, guys -- we can make this a win/win." I sat back in my chair and listened as this 7-year-old negotiated a project that every single kid was on board with. "We can make a robot, out of LEGOs, in the shape of a dinosaur -- and it can throw a basketball!" he said. (You will notice that even the 7-year-old knew the blowing-stuff-up option was a no-go.) "Yeah!" "Yeah!" Then seven sets of big eyes turned to me. "Can we do that, Mrs. Zepeda?" And I was so impressed at the level of conversation, and their use of Covey's 7 Habits to listen and negotiate with each other, that I said,
"Sure, guys, we can make a robot dinosaur out of LEGOs."
"Oh, your kids really have fun, don't they?" I've been asked this question, or versions of it, more times than I can count over the past year as a GT facilitator, in tones ranging from wistfulness to sneer. And I reply, "Yes, they do -- and they think hard, too." Because really, people, what's wrong with a little fun in school? I'm thinking of this after spending an hour watching my fifth graders just have fun today. We were supposed to teleconference with NASA, but due to technological difficulties, had to reschedule. Which left me a classroom of fifth graders and an unscheduled hour.
Pentago
"Free choice!" I called out, deciding to give them their Christmas present early. They scattered -- LEGOs, chess, marble runs. Some chose new challenges, like Pentago or In a Pickle. Others went to old favorites -- Quoridor and Quirkle. To be honest, I struggled with this decision -- was I wasting an hour? What would their teachers -- strapped for time with the stress of state testing in three subjects -- say if they found out? Then I stepped back and just watched. Part of our district's mission statement reads: "...ISD,where we encourage collaboration and communication, [and] promote critical thinking..." In their play, my students were embracing all three of those district goals. So yes, they were having fun. And thinking -- a lot.
